Nanotechnology May Be Key to Solar Energy and Energy Storage

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Geneva, Switzerland (PRWEB UK) 25 February 2014

A new study from the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI has found that nanotechnology will bring significant benefits to the energy sector, especially to energy storage and solar energy. Improved materials efficiency and reduced manufacturing costs are just two of the real economic benefits that nanotechnology already brings these fields and thats only the beginning. Battery storage capacity could be extended, solar cells could be produced cheaper, and the lifetime of solar cells or batteries for electric cars could be increased, all thanks to continued development of nanotechnology.

In the study, "Nanotechnology in the sectors of solar energy and energy storage" commissioned by the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI found that there is a whole range of nanomaterials which will grow in importance as technology continues to advance. The Technical Report Nanotechnology in the sectors of solar energy and energy storage is available here.

The rise of nanomaterials A key finding of the study is that technologies where nano already plays an important role will be of special interest for industry and research.

The following nanomaterial technologies will be of particular importance: "organic and printed electronics", "nano-coatings," "nano-composites", "nano-fluids", "nano-catalysts", "nanocarbons" and "nano-electrodes". These seven technology profiles form the basis for two comprehensive roadmaps in the technical report.

For example, through the use of nanotechnology the light and energy generation of crystalline silicon solar cells or organic solar cells can already be enabled or significantly increased. Their manufacturing also requires less material and is more cost-efficient.

Energy storage capacity will significantly improve with the use of nanomaterials for lithium-ion batteries. This is by far the most important battery technology for energy storage since the early 1990s. It is especially important in view of the constantly increasing demand for electric vehicles, whose success is also directly linked to battery performance and resulting range extension.

Large-scale application in solar power generation and energy storage Dr. Bjrn P. Moller, project leader of this study at Fraunhofer ISI is convinced that everything points to its large-scale application in solar power generation and energy storage, unlike many other fields where nanotechnology has been unable to make a break-through.

Moller said, "It can be assumed that in 2035 the share of fossil fuels in global energy production will have decreased to 75 percent. This implies that renewable energy will need to contribute significantly more to the overall energy generation. It is therefore crucially important that key technologies such as solar cells are further developed with the help of nanotechnology and that energy storage is improved.

In some areas nanotechnology may even be a key to success. There is great potential for nanotechnology to help to mitigate the intermittency of renewable energy, Moller said.

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Magnetic Medicine

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Newswise Using tiny particles designed to target cancer-fighting immune cells, Johns Hopkins researchers have trained the immune systems of mice to fight melanoma, a deadly skin cancer. The experiments, described on the website of ACS Nano on February 24, represent a significant step toward using nanoparticles and magnetism to treat a variety of conditions, the researchers say.

Size was key to this experiment, says Jonathan Schneck, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of pathology, medicine and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines Institute for Cell Engineering. By using small enough particles, we could, for the first time, see a key difference in cancer-fighting cells, and we harnessed that knowledge to enhance the immune attack on cancer.

Schnecks team has pioneered the development of artificial white blood cells, so-called artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs), which show promise in training animals immune systems to fight diseases such as cancer. To do that, the aAPCs must interact with immune cells known as naive T cells that are already present in the body, awaiting instructions about which specific invader they will battle. The aAPCs bind to specialized receptors on the T cells surfaces and presenting them with distinctive proteins called antigens. This process activates the T cells, programming them to battle a specific threat such as a virus, bacteria or tumor, as well as to make more T cells.

The team had been working with microscale particles, which are about one-hundredth of a millimeter across. But, says Schneck, aAPCs of that size are still too large to get into some areas of a body and may even cause tissue damage because of their relatively large size. In addition, the microscale particles bound equally well to naive T cells and others, so the team began to explore using much smaller nanoscale aAPCs. Since size and shape are central to how aAPCs interact with T cells, Karlo Perica, a graduate student in Schnecks laboratory, tested the impact of these smaller particles.

The so-called nano-aAPCs were small enough that many of them could bind to a single T cell, as the team had expected. But when Perica compared naive T cells to those that had been activated, he found that the naive cells were able to bind more nanoparticles. This was quite surprising, since many studies had already shown that naive and activated T cells had equal numbers of receptors, Schneck says. Based on Karlos results, we suspected that the activated cells receptors were configured in a way that limited the number of nanoparticles that could bind to them.

To see whether there indeed was a relationship between activation and receptor clustering, Perica applied a magnetic field to the cells, causing the nano-aAPCs to attract one another and cluster together, bringing the receptors with them. The clustering did indeed activate the naive T cells, and it made the activated cells even more active effectively ramping up the normal immune response.

To examine how the increased activation would play out in living animals, the team treated a sample of T cells with nano-aAPCs targeting those T cells programmed to battle melanoma. The researchers next put the treated cells under a magnetic field and then put them into mice with skin tumors. The tumors in mice treated with both nano-aAPCs and magnetism stopped growing, and by the end of the experiment, they were about 10 times smaller than those of untreated mice, the researchers found. In addition, they report, six of the eight magnetism-treated mice survived for more than four weeks showing no signs of tumor growth, compared to zero of the untreated mice.

We were able to fine-tune the strength of the immune response by varying the strength of the magnetic field and how long it was applied, much as different doses of a drug yield different effects, says Perica. We think this is the first time magnetic fields have acted like medicine in this way.

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Technique to create holes in graphene could improve water filters, desalination

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25-Feb-2014

Contact: Abby Abazorius abbya@mit.edu 617-253-2709 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Researchers have devised a way of making tiny holes of controllable size in sheets of graphene, a development that could lead to ultrathin filters for improved desalination or water purification.

The team of researchers at MIT, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and in Saudi Arabia succeeded in creating subnanoscale pores in a sheet of the one-atom-thick material, which is one of the strongest materials known. Their findings are published in the journal Nano Letters.

The concept of using graphene, perforated by nanoscale pores, as a filter in desalination has been proposed and analyzed by other MIT researchers. The new work, led by graduate student Sean O'Hern and associate professor of mechanical engineering Rohit Karnik, is the first step toward actual production of such a graphene filter.

Making these minuscule holes in graphene a hexagonal array of carbon atoms, like atomic-scale chicken wire occurs in a two-stage process. First, the graphene is bombarded with gallium ions, which disrupt the carbon bonds. Then, the graphene is etched with an oxidizing solution that reacts strongly with the disrupted bonds producing a hole at each spot where the gallium ions struck. By controlling how long the graphene sheet is left in the oxidizing solution, the MIT researchers can control the average size of the pores.

A big limitation in existing nanofiltration and reverse-osmosis desalination plants, which use filters to separate salt from seawater, is their low permeability: Water flows very slowly through them. The graphene filters, being much thinner, yet very strong, can sustain a much higher flow. "We've developed the first membrane that consists of a high density of subnanometer-scale pores in an atomically thin, single sheet of graphene," O'Hern says.

For efficient desalination, a membrane must demonstrate "a high rejection rate of salt, yet a high flow rate of water," he adds. One way of doing that is decreasing the membrane's thickness, but this quickly renders conventional polymer-based membranes too weak to sustain the water pressure, or too ineffective at rejecting salt, he explains.

With graphene membranes, it becomes simply a matter of controlling the size of the pores, making them "larger than water molecules, but smaller than everything else," O'Hern says whether salt, impurities, or particular kinds of biochemical molecules.

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Blocking Autophagy with Malaria Drug May Help Overcome Resistance to BRAF Drugs in Melanoma

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Newswise PHILADELPHIA Half of melanoma patients with the BRAF mutation have a positive response to treatment with BRAF inhibitors, but nearly all of those patients develop resistance to the drugs and experience disease progression.

Now, a new preclinical study published online ahead of print in the from Penn Medicine researchers found that in many cases the root of the resistance may lie in a never-before-seen autophagy mechanism induced by the BRAF inhibitors vermurafenib and dabrafenib. Autophagy is a process by which cancer cells recycle essential building blocks to fuel further growth. Block this pathway with the antimalarial drug hydroxycholoroquine (HCQ), the authors found, and the BRAF inhibitors will be able to do their job better.

This study opens the door for combination therapy with BRAF inhibitors and autophagy inhibitors, which havent been explored deeply as a therapeutic option for patients whose tumors are resistant, said Ravi K. Amaravadi, MD, assistant professor of Medicine in the division of Hematology/Oncology at the Perelman School of Medicine and co-leader of the Cancer Therapeutics Program at Penn Medicines Abramson Cancer Center. Here, we show that the BRAF inhibitors induce autophagy as a way to escape cell death, which gives us clues on how to interfere with this mechanism of resistance and improve outcomes for these patients.

Based on these promising preclinical results, Dr. Amaravadi and his team have already launched a clinical trial for patients with advanced BRAF mutant melanoma to see how well-tolerated HCQ is with the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib. So far, he said, we are seeing a benefit to patients and low toxicity.

BRAF inhibitors are a first line of treatment for melanoma patients who harbor the BRAF mutation, which is an abnormal change in a gene that causes some melanoma tumors to grow and spread more aggressively. While 50 percent of patients initially respond to that treatment, nearly 100 percent exhibit disease progression seven months after treatment, making it imperative to find a way to re-sensitize the tumor to treatment.

Autophagy has emerged as a key pathway that cancer cells use to survive in the face of assault by chemotherapy and radiation; however, autophagy as a potential druggable mechanism in patients who become resistant to BRAF inhibitors has not been investigated.

Using tumor biopsies from BRAF melanoma patients treated with either BRAF inhibitors or with combined BRAF and MEK inhibitors, a recently FDA-approved drug combination to fight the other mechanisms of resistance, the researchers found that tumors resistant to the BRAF inhibitors had increased levels of autophagy compared with baseline tumors. Moreover, the level of therapy-induced autophagy was correlated with lower response rates and shorter progression-free survival times.

The researchers also examined BRAF mutant melanoma cell lines, and found that BRAF inhibition induced autophagy by way of an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response. The binding of a BRAF mutation to the ER stress gatekeeper GRP78 is a new and unexpected molecular interaction driving resistance, and establishes a new signaling axis that has multiple drug targets, Dr. Amaravadi said.

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Safety’s the most important thing: hear what operators in Medicine Hat have to say – Video

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Safety #39;s the most important thing: hear what operators in Medicine Hat have to say
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Safety’s the most important thing: Dalton, an Operator B in Medicine Hat – Video

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Northwestern Medicine awarded more than $8.4 million for chronic rhinosinusitis research

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25-Feb-2014

Contact: Bret Coons bcoons@nmh.org 312-926-2955 Northwestern Memorial Hospital

CHICAGO The Northwestern Medicine Sinus and Allergy Center has received a grant for more than $8.4 million from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to help advance the understanding of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and the development of new methods for its treatment over the next five years. The grant will fund research by the newly formed Chronic Rhinosinusitis Integrative Studies Program (CRISP), which is comprised of research groups from Northwestern Medicine, The University of Chicago and Geisinger Health System.

CRS is an often debilitating condition that causes pain and congestion in the sinuses due to inflammation from an infection or other irritants that lasts anywhere from more than 12 weeks to several years. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nearly 30 million Americans suffer from CRS and approximately $6 billion in healthcare costs can be attributed to its treatment annually.

"Treatments for chronic rhinosinusitis have remained largely unchanged for decades and there is a great need for more research," said principal investigator for CRISP Robert P. Schleimer, PhD, who is also chief of the division of allergy-immunology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "Many patients with CRS are forced to undergo multiple surgeries to successfully widen or clear their nasal passages. Rhinosinusitis is also the number one reason adults in America are prescribed antibiotics, which is a major cause for the growing number antibiotic resistant strains of infectious diseases."

The program's research will aim to better understand the epidemiology, genetics and pathogenesis of CRS, most of which remain unknown, with the goal that it will ultimately lead to strategies for the development of new, more effective treatment options.

"There has traditionally been a lack of funding for CRS research," said Robert Kern, MD, chair of otolaryngology at Northwestern Memorial and the Feinberg School of Medicine. "I think the NIAID recognizes that there is an unmet need for more CRS research and that our Sinus and Allergy Center is well-equipped to help guide that research since it is composed of otolaryngists, allergists and bench scientists who often don't collaborate at other medical centers."

The research will be supported through July 2018 with grant PAR-10-271 National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

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GW's Huda Ayas to Serve as Associate Dean of International Medicine

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Newswise WASHINGTON (Feb. 25, 2014) The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) is pleased to announce that Huda M. Ayas, Ed.D. 06, M.B.A. 98, M.H.S.A. 93, will serve as associate dean for international medicine. Ayas, who has served in a leadership capacity at SMHS for 20 years, is the founder and executive director of the Office of International Medicine Programs (IMP). Through the IMP office, she has established and managed upwards of 125 global partnerships and affiliations in more than 50 countries and has developed and implemented many international medical education and training programs. Today, she manages more than 60 active affiliations.

Dr. Ayas established and developed this office from the ground up, said Jeffrey S. Akman, M.D., Walter A. Bloedorn Professor of Administrative Medicine, Vice President for Health Affairs, and Dean of SMHS. She has developed an international reputation as someone who is extremely dedicated to the health and well-being of our global community through education, training, and development of physicians and other medical professionals. Her leadership has led to the creation of many terrific opportunities for GW students, residents, staff and faculty to have a positive impact on our global community, which is reflected in the tremendous success of the Office of International Medicine Programs."

Within IMP, Ayas and her team have established a vast array of medical education and training programs, including: the M.D. Program for international students, which allows non-U.S. and non-Canadian students to study medicine at SMHS with the understanding that they will return to their home country to provide medical care to its citizens; the Observership Program, which allows international physicians to come to the U.S. for up to 8 weeks of training in a specific area of medicine; the International Residency Training Program, which allows international medical graduates to pursue their clinical training in the U.S.; the International Clinical Electives Program, which allows for the exchange of medical students with our affiliated institutes for 3rd- and 4th-year rotations; the Fellowship Program, which was designed to increase the knowledge and skills of a physician in any subspecialty beyond that of residency training; and, most recently, the Medical Research Fellowship Program. IMP has provided learning opportunities for more than 10,000 international and GW faculty, students, and staff since its establishment in 1994.

Additionally, Ayas serves as the director of the global health track for M.D. students, which is designed to increase intercultural sensitivity and awareness about international health systems, as well as regional diseases, while teaching students to assess the specific health needs of countries at various stages of development. She also serves as the course director of three Interdisciplinary Medicine elective courses in SMHS and as a Professorial Lecturer of Global Health in GWs School of Public Health and Health Services. Outside of GW, Ayas serves as a member of Physicians for Peace Board of Directors, and as an Advisor and Site Visits Surveyor for the GW Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI), which is a program of PEPFAR and NIH to establish a coordinating center that will evaluate progress and improve communication between partnership programs and African institutions in a dozen countries, as well as U.S. medical schools and universities.

Ayas assumed the role of Associate Dean for International Medicine on January 5, 2014.

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About the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences:

Founded in 1825, the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) was the first medical school in the nations capital and is the 11th oldest in the country. Working together in our nations capital, with integrity and resolve, the GW SMHS is committed to improving the health and well-being of our local, national and global communities. smhs.gwu.edu

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Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for Feb. 25, 2014

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24-Feb-2014

Contact: Megan Hanks mhanks@acponline.org 215-351-2656 American College of Physicians

1. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force publishes final recommendation statement on multivitamins to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer

The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against the use of beta-carotene or vitamin E supplements for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease or cancer, according to a recommendation statement being published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Researchers conducted a systematic review of the evidence to assess the benefits and harms of using vitamin, mineral, and multivitamin supplements for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer. The evidence suggests that beta-carotene increases risk for lung cancer in people at risk for the disease. New evidence on the use of vitamin E proves that it lacks effectiveness in preventing cardiovascular disease or cancer. Evidence was insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of the use of multivitamins or single- or paired-nutrient supplements (with the exception of beta-carotene and vitamin E) for preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer. About half of U.S. adults report using at least one dietary supplement and about one-third report using a multivitamin-multimineral supplement. Appropriate intake of vitamin and mineral nutrients is essential to overall health. The benefits of vitamin supplementation are uncertain, so it is recommended that Americans get most of their nutrients from foods. Eating a nutrient-rich diet comprised of mostly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy products, and seafood should provide adequate nutrition. However, there may be specific groups of patients with well-defined conditions for whom specific nutrients will provide benefits. The focus of the recommendation is healthy adults without special nutritional needs. This is an update to the USPSTF's 2003 recommendation.

Note: The URL will go live at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 24 and can be included in news stories. For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To interview an author, please contact Nicole Raisch at newsroom@uspstf.net or 202-572-2044.

2. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute sets prioritized research agenda for managing two diverse conditions

Two articles being published in Annals of Internal Medicine seek to set prioritized research agendas to fill the evidence gaps about two diverse conditions bipolar disorder in young people and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) in women Both conditions present similar challenges to physicians and patients because the diagnosis is often not clear-cut and typical treatments come with a trade-off of benefits and serious side effects. Using a process described by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), researchers collaborated with various stakeholders including clinical experts, patients, and advocates to identify and rank the important gaps in knowledge that should be the focus of new research. In bipolar disorder, the researchers noted that the condition can be difficult to distinguish from other behavioral disorders among young people. Despite clinical uncertainty, the use of antipsychotic drugs in this population has increased significantly over the past 20 years. Antipsychotics carry a high risk for adverse effects. Looking at the available evidence, researchers identified 23 potential research needs in three areas: the comparative effectiveness of intervention strategies, the effect of antipsychotics on patient-centered outcomes, and the influence of various patient characteristics on the effectiveness of antipsychotics. In DCIS, there is considerable uncertainty about the optimal clinical management of the condition because of the lack of reliable methods for distinguishing DCIS that would never become symptomatic from DCIS that is likely to progress to life-threatening invasive cancer. The researchers identified knowledge gaps that should be addressed by future research, such as the incorporation of patient-centered outcomes, development of better methods to predict risk of invasive cancer, evaluation of a strategy of active surveillance, and testing of decision-making tools.

Note: The URLs will go live at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 24 and can be included in news stories. For an embargoed PDF, please contact Megan Hanks or Angela Collom. To speak with a researcher on the papers, please contact Sarah Avery at sara.avery@duke.edu or 919-660-1306.

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Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for Feb. 25, 2014

Study of Hispanic/Latino health presents initial findings

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24-Feb-2014

Contact: Kim Newman sciencenews@einstein.yu.edu 718-430-3101 Albert Einstein College of Medicine

February 24, 2014 (BRONX, NY) One in every six people in the U.S. is Hispanic/Latino and as a group they live longer than non-Hispanic whites (81.4 years vs. 78.8 years). Yet, despite their strong representation and relative longevity, little is understood about this group's health conditions and behaviors.

The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), the landmark research study of Hispanic/Latino health funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has released initial findings that show significant variations in disease prevalence and health behaviors among groups with different backgrounds.

Initial Findings

The findings reported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), part of the NIH, are the result of the national study that began in 2008. The data is based on interviews conducted with 16,415 study participants at one of four U.S. field centers located in the Bronx, San Diego, Chicago and Miami.

Variation by Background

"While many trends are consistent across all four field sites, there are clear differences between participants in each city and more importantly, between each Hispanic group," said Robert Kaplan, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology & population health and principal investigator for HCHS/SOL at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, which established and operates the Bronx field center.

Among the highlights in The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Data Book: A Report to the Communities:

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Study of Hispanic/Latino health presents initial findings